Editor: Starbuck11

The battle in Epiroz' suburbs began with Mikos.h.i.+ba Ryouma's declaration of war.

And the war had moved to a different direction compared to Earl Salzberg's prediction. Initially, the Earl's side had thought that Mikos.h.i.+ba's army would be defeated without fail by the army of the ten northern house n.o.bles families.

Of course, it was not because the n.o.bles were some chunk of people without consciousness, they had reasonable expectation why they thought they would win.

When Ryouma was granted the Wortenia territory, no people were living there. And above all else, Mikos.h.i.+ba Ryouma was originally not a citizen of the Rozeria Kingdom and also just a commoner.

That was why, for the ten northern house n.o.bles families, Ryouma's existence didn't really excite wariness among them

Nevertheless, since the war started, the conflict had reached a deadlock, even though ten days had already pa.s.sed.

"d.a.m.n it ! Every one of them only saying and doing however they like !"

Inside Earl Salzberg house, intense anger echoed in one room.

The scene of the meeting before, floated inside Roberto's mind, causing his face to become red with anger.

Since the end of the first battle, Roberto was always being called a youngster who don't know war, or someone who bought martial arts with gold.

At first, Roberto thought it was natural for them to ridicule Roberto and Signiz because they were just a n.o.bleman's fourth son.

But nonetheless, it was to be expected for Roberto to feel irritated by the lazy slender directed at them repeatedly.

"Oi, calm down a little bit… Nothing will change even if you shout like that. Here, we have a wine that seems to be one of the Earl's treasure. I heard the taste matched the ten gold coin per bottle price. Why don't you just sit down and have fun ?"

While looking at Roberto who had his face turned red in anger, Signiz slowly tilts his gla.s.s.

Rich aroma spreading throughout his nose.

At the same time, he placed the gla.s.s on his mouth. Strong taste with exquisite balance entered his mouth.

He felt he had a good fortune to be able to taste such wine.

The taste was far superior compared to the kind of wine he was accustomed to as fourth son of a n.o.bleman.

However, looking at Signiz's behavior, Roberto flared his anger.

"What are you saying. You do realize that we're in a bad situation right now, right ?! Those incompetent b.a.s.t.a.r.ds aside, are you trying to make us fail too ?!"

With such roar, Roberto flung his fist against the table.

His body height was more than 200 cm (6ft 7in). It was also a body that had been forged throughout numerous battlefield.

The ceramic gla.s.ses and plates fell on the floor and broke due to the shock.

Reddish stains were made on the carpet, and the rich fragrance of wine began to spread inside the room.

Signiz shook his head while looking at the scene.

"Geez… You don't understand the words of 'waste', don't you ? It is a rare experience for us to be able to taste such good wine you know ? Even in our entire life, we might not be able to taste it again…"

While saying so, Signiz drinks the wine inside the gla.s.s he held.

For Signiz right now, the most important thing was to concentrate on the wine taste that was left inside his gla.s.s.

Maybe because he realized what he did and the way Signiz behave, Roberto relaxed his att.i.tude.

"Signiz. That face you have right now is really stupid."

"It seems you've calmed down a little bit. The other bottle is broken on the floor, but we still have one here still fine. Want some drink ?"

Signiz then took a wine from the cabinet and pour it into the gla.s.s.

"Fine… Let me have some."

The smell of the wine tickles Roberto's nostrils.

"Certainly, this seems to taste good."

"Fully calmed down, now ?"

"Sorry, that was my bad…"

In response to Signiz question, Roberto diverted his gaze.

He himself realized that his act before was something he should not do.

"Right, this is the Earl's mansion. Even if we ordered people to not get near this room, we still can't be careless. But well, if you didn't scream in anger just now, I might have to shove a sword into those guys mouth."

"You ?"

In response to Signiz unexpected words, Roberto was at loss for words.

"Of course I would. If even you feel angry, it would be obvious I'm angrier. However, I think it would be the same as admitting defeat if we get angry here. Even for the Earl, it was difficult for him to control those guys."

Even if Signiz was being recognized as someone with a calmer mind, in the end, his nature was also that of a mad warrior.

Basically, he was also the type of man that thinks it was faster to kill his companions that persuade them with words.

There was only one reason why Signiz didn't do that.

That was because, by killing the next head of a n.o.ble family, he would be sentenced to death without even given an opportunity for defense.

And for Signiz, he didn't want to give up his life for something so stupid.

"Also, even though it is a bit irritating, we still need those guys' soldiers in this war. Roberto, you should realize about that too, no ?"

"Well of course… it can be seen from the battle of the last few days, that the quality of Mikos.h.i.+ba Ryouma's soldiers and weaponry are far superior compared to us. Even now, I still can't believe what I saw though."

"Agreed. I wonder what kind of means did he use to create such soldiers… I'm really curious"

Signiz responded with a sigh.

Unusual fighting spirit and high quality weaponry.

Being good at group warfare aside, Ryouma individual soldier's martial arts was something that should not be underestimated.

Even when they received Signiz and Roberto charge, they managed to counterattack without letting the front line collapse.

And not to mention the enemy's high morale.

"The one deciding the winner in a war is number, they said…"

Signiz floated a sarcastic smile on his face.

"Looking that way, I think we're at a disadvantage, 6: 4. However, the enemy number is not even reaching 1,000. While conversely, we have about 2,000 soldiers with us. If we did a siege battle, we should not lose. It would be a good idea for us to hole up and be patient. And in the worse case…"

"We might ask for reinforcements, is it ?"

Dozen of knights were being left to guard the ten northern house n.o.bles territory.

In a worse case scenario, they could use them as reinforcement.

"Of course, I can't guarantee the territory's safety with the current situation where the commoners are rebelling…"

Thus even if they won the war, it would come for naught if a rebellion happened inside their territory.

"Well, in any case, there's no way we would lose, we have Epiroz here. Because the Earl understood that, he kept silent during the meeting. While teasing us with his side-glances !"

Roberto played with his gla.s.s while feeling frustrated.

Up until now, everyone believed in Epiroz city fortifications, which was protected by high walls and deep moats.

That was until the moment when the door of the room Roberto and Signiz had stayed in, was being knocked hurriedly.